Sand-flinging bearing for well drills



Oct 1930- c. c. SCHARPENBERG SAND FLINGING BEARING FOR WELL LD RILLS Original Filed April 17, 1926 .rlllafllllllllIl/ldllllillllfllllltll iairtvlllllilld I! ,IIIIIIIIIIIIIIF ,jwuenroz Charles 61 jcharpenbely 5;

auouwga Patented Oct. 21, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OF DELAWARE CALIFORNIA, ASSIGN'OB TO STANDARD CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION SAND-ELINGING BEARING FOB WELL DBILLS original application filed April 17, 1928,

Serial No. 102,823. Divided endthis application filed January 11, 1927. Serial No. 180,823.

This invention relates to a bearing for a shaft, located below the surface-of a liquid.- 'While the invention may be applied to any bearing operating below the surface of any liquid, it is expected to be especially useful when employed in connection with hydraulic drilling apparatus.

The present application is a division of my application fordrilling apparatus,- Serial No. 102,623, filed April 17, 1926. In that application I disclosed a drilling apparatus including a hydraulic motor at the lower end of the drill shaft. This motor consists of a cylindrical casing through which a shaft passes, the casing being provided with blades and the motor shaft being provided with blades that are engaged by water under pressure passing down a tubular shaft connected with the casing, so that the shaft rotates in one direction and the casing of the motor rotates in the opposite direction. At the lower end of the motor, a bearing is provided for the shaft. This bearing is located near the cutting tool carried by the shaft and is subjected to hard usage on account of the fact that the sand and cuttings from the drill tend to pass into the bearing. Of course packing may be used to prevent, as far as possible, the sand and cuttings from reaching the bearing.

The general object of this invention is to provide simple ineans to be used in connectionwith such a hearing, which will operate as a centrifugal ejector to prevent the entrance of sand and drill cuttings into the bearing.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel parts, and combination of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an ellicient sand flinging bearing for well drills.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification.

while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a side elevation and partial section, broken away, illustrating a motor having a bearing embodying my invention.

Figure 1?; IS a vertical section through the bearing embodying my invention and upon an enlarged scale.

Figure 3 is a cross section lookin upwarrglly, taken about on the line 3-3 0 Figure The drillin apparatus to applied this hearing includes drill shaft 1 which extends downwardly t ough a. tubular casing 2. The lower end of the drill shaft 1 is attached to a bit 3 which may be in the form ot a disc hit with rotary cutters or discs 4.

The motor includes a cylindrical casing 5 having inclined blades 6 which extend inwardly, and which are arranged between corresponding blades 7 that project outwardly from the rotor 8 of the motor, said rotor be ing secured to the shaft 1.

ln the operation of this apparatus, the blades 7 operate to rotate the shaft 1 in one direction and the rector casing or shell 5 inthe opposite direction. This motor is of the general type disclosed in my Patent No. 1,4l82,702, granted to me February 5, 19%.

which I have At the lower end out the motor a bearing hons- I ing 9 is provided, that includes an outer shell and a central hub or hearing proper 10. hub has a counterbore 11 in its lower end to provide a shoulder tor a ball race 12. A similar ball race 13 is mounted on the shaft 1 above a shoulder 14: formed on it. At this point a ball-bearing is formed.

According to my invention 1 provide means located above and below for excluding the sand and water from this hearing, and in order to accornlish this I provide rt on each side 0' the hearing; that is to say, ll provide a stufing box above the ball bearing, carrying packing 15, end I provide a stuhng box below the bearing carrying paclrin 16. The packing 15 is referahly carrie in an annular chamber ormed in an inner sleeve 17 which is screwed into the upper end of the body or hub 10. The packing 16 is carriedin a similar acking chamber termed in a sleeve 18 w ich is screwed onto the lower end of the hub. The shaft 1 above the ball bearing is provided with a bushing 19 which passes through the stufing box that carries the packing 15. On

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the shaft above the bushing 19 I attach a collar 20, and thiscollar is provided with a sleeve 21 which projects downwardly and telescopes with the sleeve 17. In this way a circuitous duct 22 is formed passing between the sleeve 21 and the sleeve 17 and between sleeve 22 and the bushing 19. While itis possible for sand and water to find their way into this circuitous duct, 1 provide means operating to eject the same. For this purpose I provide the lower end of the sleeve 21 with a pluralityof inclined propellers or vanes 23, see Figure 3. These vanes are disposed circumferentially all around the lower end of the sleeve 21. When this sleeve ,rotates with the shaft these vanes, or propellers, operate centrifugally upon the water and sand and tend to throw it outwardly and downwardly.

At the lower end of the sleeve 18 the shaft 1 is provided with a ring 24, and this ring carries a plurality of small fingers or blades 25 which also operate as ejectors to prevent the water and sand from passing the ring 24: and forcing their way upwardly to the packing 16.

The hub 10 is supported in the bearing housing by a plurality of radial webs. In order to supply lubricant to the ball hearing I rovide a drilled opening 27 which passes own through one of these webs to the hearing, as indicated in Figure 2. The outer end 0 this drilled duct 27 is closed by a plug 28.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described herein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take and I do not wish to be limited in the practice of my invention nor in my claims to the particular embodiment set forth.

What I claim is:

1; In a submerged bearing construction for hydraulic drilling apparatus, the combination of a bearing and support for the same, a rotatable shaft operating in the bearing and extending completely through the same, packing at the upper end of the bearing and packing at the lower end of the bearing, a centrifugal device rotating with the shaft adjacent the upper packing for excluding sand and drill-cuttings from the upper packmg, and a centrifugal device driven by the shaft adjacent the lower packing for excluding sand and drill cuttings therefrom.

2. ln a submerged hearing construction for hydraulic drilling apparatus, the combination of a bearing and support for the same, a rotatable shaft operating in the hearing and extending completely through the same, packing at the u per end of the hearing, a sleeve beyond t e packing having a plain cylindrical bore surrounding the shaft with the face of said bore lying close to the shaft, packing at the lower end of the hearing, a sleeve at the lower end of the bearing beyond the packing'and having a plain cylindrical bore with its face lying close to the face of theshaft, centrifugal blades carried by the shaft adjacent the upper sleeve for excluding sand and drill-cuttings from the space between the sleeve and the shaft and centrifugal blades carried by the shaft adjacent the lower sleeve for excluding sand and drill-cuttings from the space between the lower sleeve and the shaft.

3. In a submerged bearing construction for hydraulic drilling apparatus, the combination of a bearing and support for the same, a rotatable shaft operating in the bearing and extending completely through the same. packing at the upper end of the bearing, a sleeve surrounding the shaft secured to the bearing and retaining the packing, packing at the lower end of the bearing, a sleeve surrounding the shaft secured to the bearing and retaining the last named packing, centrifugal blades carried by the shaft adjacent the upper sleeve for excluding sand and drillcuttings from the upper packing, and centrifugal blades carried by the shaft adjacent the lower sleeve for excluding sand and drill cuttings from the lower packing.

4:. In a bearing construction for a submerged shaft for hydraulic drilling apparatus, the combination of packing at the upper end of the bearing and packing at the lower end of the bearing, a centrifugal device rotating with the shaft adjacent the upper packing for excluding sand and drill-cuttings from the upper packing, and a centrifugal device driven by the shaft adjacent the lower packing for excluding sand and drill cuttings therefrom.

5. In a bearing construction for a submerged shaft for hydraulic drilling apparatus, the combination of packing at the upper end of the bearing, a sleeve beyond the packing having a plain cylindrical bore surrounding the shaft with the face of said bore lying close to the shaft, packing at the lower end of the bearing, a sleeve at the lower end of the bearing beyond the packing and having a plain cylindrical bore with its face lying close to the face of the shaft, centrifugal blades carried by the shaft adjacent the upper sleeve for excluding sand and drill-cuttings from the space between the sleeve and the shaft and centrifugal blades mounted so as to be driven by the shaft adjacent the lower sleeve for excluding sand and drill-cuttings from the space between the lower sleeve and the shaft.

6. In a bearing construction for a sub merged shaft for hydraulic drilling apparatus, the combination of packing at the upper end of the bearing, a sleeve surrounding the shaft secured to the bearing and retaming the packing, packing at the lower end of the hearing, a sleeve surrounding the shaft secured to the bearing and retaining the last named packing, centrifugal blades carried by the shaft adjacent the upper sleeve for excluding sand and drill-cuttings from the upper packing, and centrifugal blades mounted so as to be driven by the shaft adjacent the lower sleeve for excluding sand and drill-cuttings from the lower packing.

Signed at Bakersfield, Calif., this 28th day of December. 1926. 10 CHARLES C. SCHARPENBERG. 

